More on crowd support in SCMM

'Long after the African superstars have loped their way through Docklands, you can hear the crowds enthusiastically bellowing. 'Come on, Fairy, come on, girl, you can do it'. The London crowd are there for the rhinos as much as the record breakers .. ' so starts the chapter on crowd participation in John Bryant's The London Marathon The History of the Greatest race on Earth - a wonderful book that I am currently reading(borrowed from Dharmendra a while ago).

The above applies very much to Mumbai marathon as well.

Borrowing further from the book(replacing London by Mumbai):

The spectators really can keep you going when your body screams to stop. The spectators seem to put as much effort into supporting as the runnerd do into running.For this one day Mumbai simply stops, stands on the pavement and cheers. The spectators have a seemingly unending supply of sustenance for the runners: water, fruit juices, soft drnks, bananas, oranges,biscuits etc. etc. Its the interaction with the crowds that keeps one going. You make eye contact with people you don't know, you've never seen before, but who are there willing you on to the finish. When these strangers shout " come on 440(my bib # at Mumbai), you are doing great, dont give up" there's a contact that lifts one through exhaustion. It's as if the crowds don't just watch - they're part of the race. They are close enough to touch as you pass and the children love to slap hands and high-fice with the runners. The effect of all this on a runner can be very positive - crowd support and interaction is one big factor which contributes to my enjoyment of the Mumbai marathon every year!

Half way through my 12 in 12 @50

The Mumbai marathon on 18th January was the 6th full marathon in my series of 12 marathons in 12 months - a goal I set my self sometime in May 2008. Here's a summary of the runs so far:

1. Hyderabad marathon : 16th August 2008 : 4 hours 4 minutes
2. RFL Kanakpura road run : 21st September 2008 : 4 hours 29 minutes
3. Kaveri Trail marathon : 19th October 2008 : 4 hours 42 minutes 19 seconds
4. Bangalore Ultra marathon : 16th November 2008 : 5 hours 51 minutes 21 seconds
5. RFL Bellandur Run: 14th December 2008 : 4 hours 29 minutes
6. Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon: 18th January 2009 : 4 hours 13 minutes 16 seconds

My target was to complete all the runs below 5 hours and do as many as possible below 4:30. So I am quite pleased with the way things have gone so far. Except for KTM I finished quite strongly in all the other runs. The next run in Auroville on 15th February should also be reasonably comfortable. After that it will get much tougher. There are no marathon events till August so I will have to run as part of RFL runs and the weather will be warm. So the last 5 marathons will be quite challenging to complete and keep under 5 hours!

With the RFL calendar for 2009 in place it looks like if I get through completing 12 marathons in 12 months by July 2009 then I have the opportunity to continue doing a marathon a month till the Auroville marathon in February 2010. The following events are scheduled for the 2H of 2009:

1. 30th August : Hyderabad Marathon

2. 13th September : Kaveri Trail Marathon

3. 15th November : Bangalore Ultra Marathon

Fundraising picking up steam!

Through my marathon runs I have been raising money for Dream A Dream(http://www.dreamadream.org/) an NGO that I volunteer with since 2007. I am happy to state that after a fairly slow start last year, contributions have picked up over the last 3 weeks since the beginning of the year. With help from a few more friends and well wishers I hope to cross Rs 1 Lakh by the end of January. I am quite amazed and humbled by the support I have been getting from all corners of the world. If you would like to support the cause checkout the section called 'Support for Dream A Dream' on the right side of this blog.

Hats off to the spirit of Mumbai!

The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is by far the best organized road race in India and this year was no different. There were a few changes from the previous years:
- the timing chip in the past was given for a refundable deposit while this time a one time payment of Rs 200/- was collected and the chip was given for keeps
- it was clearly communicated that timing certificate would not be given at the end of the race – only participation certificate will be given- standing in long queues to return the timing chip and/or collect the timing certificate has been a pain point frustrating full marathon runners the last few years
- finally, (slower) Full marathon runners were to start at 6:45am along with the Half Marathon runners – almost an hour earlier than the start time of the previous years

As usual, I flew to Mumbai on Friday 16th January. On the Spice Jet flight I had the pleasant company of Mukesh Singh – an amazing runner who runs Full marathons and Ultra Marathons without too much training. I stayed at my relative’s place in Govandi near Chembur as I have been doing the past 5 years. This year Deepak Mhasvade stayed with me at the same place – he arrived from Bangalore by train on Saturday afternoon. I landed up at the Expo in WTC around 12:15 on 17th morning. Of course, I bumped into a lot of familiar runners from Bangalore . After collecting the bib, timing chip and goody bag(full of various products from Nivea!) went for the pasta lunch at Flamboyante in WTC itself. The runners from Bangalore have been getting together for a pasta lunch at Moshe's in Mumbai on the Saturday before the run for the last couple of years. There was more room at Flamboyante compared to Moshe’s but the service here was very slow and the portions small for a bunch of voracious runners. Nevertheless, it was great fun to interact with 25 plus runners all chatting about doing their Half or Full marathon the next day.

I retired for the day at 930PM or so but I did not sleep too well – that’s not unusual the night before an event and does not really matter as long as one is able to relax and stretch one’s legs. I had my usual 3 banans before leaving home on Sunday morning. Deepak and I took a train from Chembur station at about 10 past 5 and were at VT station by 5:45 or so. VT station and the vicinity is abuzz with hyper activity on the morning of the marathon and right from there the atmosphere is great. In fact, one sees quite a few runners in the train ride itself. At VT we co-incidentally met Vijay Ramakrishnan our old RFL friend from Pune and the three of us made our way into Azad Maidan – the pre-holding area for the FM and HM. At the maidan, which was fast filling up with the runners and their supporters, we met dozens of runners from Bangalore.

At about 6:35am the runners moved into the actual holding area on the way to the starting point of the race. Since we were starting along with the HM runners the area was really crowded. When the gate opened I along with a few other RFL runners began to walk towards the start area. However, we soon realized that the race had perhaps began and started to jog. I felt the start of the race was a bit chaotic. There was no clear indication of the race start and by the time I reached the starting point the race was about 2 and a half minutes old and I had run nearly 200 metres – I had started my Garmin soon after I started to jog before reaching the starting line. With several thousands of runners taking off on their run and lots more cheering along the way on both sides of the road with all kinds of music it was a wonderful feeling. I ran most of the race alone though I encountered a lot of familiar runners along the way(including a few Mumbai runners like MS Suresh and Dan Zico) or coming in the opposite direction. As always, I chatted with a lot of runners along the way - many of them were unaware of Runners For Life till I explained to them about it. Hopefully a few of them will sign up to the site soon. Around the 16/17K mark I encountered a large number of spectators clapping and cheering me on calling out my bib number(440). I told several groups that it was this spirit of Mumbai that made runners like me come from Bangalore to Mumbai every year and enjoy the run and I really meant that. I was greatly surprised when I came to the same area on the return leg on the other side of the road one of these groups pointed out to me and started shouting ‘there comes the Bangalorean’ – wow – imagine how this spurred me on. The support of the crowds which is prevalent almost along the entire route makes Mumbai a fantastic experience - as good as that in the World marathon majors, based on my experience at London in 2007. Children holding out their hands for high-fives, volunteers enthusiastically offering water, spectators offering fruit juices and fruits – the spirit of Mumbai is truly amazing and pumps up my adrenalin quite a bit! As always there was adequate water and great traffic control – at least for the first 5 hours of the race(I did hear hat some aid stations ran out of water later on). I made it a point to thank the Mumbai police staff and the race volunteers whenever I could – I think its very important to acknowledge the role they play in making the race an enjoyable experience for the runners. At about the 18Km mark I was overtaken by this posse of African runners – running at a tremendous pace. Its amazing how they are able to sustain the pace. Seeking some inspiration my pace went up a notch but ofcourse not for too long. I reached the 21Km mark in just under 2 hours and the 35Km mark in 3 hours 30minutes crossing Milind Soman (The Marathon Man) and a few other RFL runners around this time. At this point I was confident of achieving my target of sub 4:30 fairly comfortably. The last 7 Kms in Mumbai is very tough –well its not easy in any marathon. However in Mumbai it gets warmer, the crowd support thins down in between and one sees other runners sporadically. My ankles began to hurt a bit and my average pace started to steadily drop from 5:50 per Km. My goal was to keep the average pace under 6 minutes per Km to finish around 4:15. I managed to keep pushing aided by my PowerBar energy bar and sips of water. When I finally turned off Marine drive towards Churchgate station after about 4 hours of running I felt quite drained out and had to dig deep to sustain the pace. I managed to just about do that and ended with a sprint through the last few metres and felt great at the finish. My Garmin showed 4:13 and a distance of 42.68Km!! Clearly the early start, despite a bit a of chaos at the start of the race, had helped. Except for a blister in the large toe of my left leg(this being the first FM with the new pair of Addidas Supernova) and a slightly stiff upper back there was no unusual ache or pain. And four days after the run now I am fully recovered and looking forward to a slow 10-12Km run this weekend!

I am happy to have been part of all 6 editions of the Mumbai marathon to date – I did Half marathons in 2004 and 2005. I hope to continue do the 'annual pilgrimage' to Mumbai as long as is possible physically, mentally and economically. Following is a summary of my runs in Mumbai over the last 6 years. The HM in 2004 was my first long run after the injury I suffered post my first Full marathon in Jan 2003. I ran that after just 2 weeks of training in which the longest distance I did was 15 Kms. The first event was held in February when Mumbai is warmer than it is in January –so for multiple reasons this run turned out to be tough. My first FM in Mumbai in 2006 was a killer as the heat, humidity and the Peddar road flyover on the return leg completely sapped my energy. Kudos to runners who normally don’t train in Mumbai and are able to do sub 4:30 FM there in their first attempt !– and RFL has many such runners.

1. 2004: HM 2:19:40 Age Place 100


2. 2005: HM 2:11:32 Age Place 175


3. 2006: FM 4:42:28 Age Place 14 Overall place among men 145


4. 2007: FM 4:37:16 Age Place 13 Overall place among men 148


5. 2008: FM 4:31:09 Age Place 17 Overall place among men 163


6. 2009: FM 4:13: 16 Age Place 6 Overall place among men TBD

(there must be a better way of presenting the above?)

Overall I am pleased with my timing this year and the improvement over 2008 - if only I can keep up this rate of improvement a sub 4 at Mumbai in a couple of years may still be achievable! Well, I guess I need to do my first ever sub 4 (in better climate) before thinking of one at Mumbai! All the RFL runners did well with several of them – Ashok, Kumar, Hari, Ravi etc clocking sub 4 hour finishes. And Rishikesh and Amrita did back to back sub 4:30 marathons seven days apart! To check timings of the winners as well as a few celebrity runners look at a fellow marathon runner and blogger Tanvir's post here.

After hogging Pav Bhaji at Mumbai VT's iconic Cannon with Vijay, Deepak and I made our way back to Chembur – tired but satisfied. Click here to see the rest of my photos taken by marathon-fotos.com during the race.

One thing that continues to bother me(and fellow marathon runners) is when the media says 40,000 runners ran the marathon on Mumbai. No distance other than 42.195Kms should be called a marathon. Period.Yes, it is great that tens of thousands of runners come out early on a Sunday morning commuting long distances to participate in the event. However, less than 10% of these participate in the Full marathon. Even in the 5Km IT City run in the Bangalore midnight marathon I heard one of the runners telling someone over the phone that he was busy running a marathon!

I had a fantastic evening catching up with BITS classmates(many of whom I had not seen/met for 30 years) at Pritams in Dadar before heading to Kurla station for the train back to Bangalore. Thanx Babuji for enthusiastically organizing the evening and all the others – Punky, Ashok, Badri, Vaish, Peter and Suresh – it was wonderful meeting you all!

Deepak and I were on the same train back to Bangalore on 18th night. We met Chandra – another RFL runner- on the platform at Kurla station. We ended up with some wonderful company during the 24 hours journey – Pavitra – a runner and trekker who works at TCS, Sunand who runs an outbound adventure company called iquest , the Mote brothers - Deepak and Sanant, and Prakash fom Infosys. Apart from Prakash, all the others were returning after running in Mumbai. We had a fantastic time talking running, trekking, cycling, swimming and playing several rounds of the ‘God’ game before reaching Bangalore on 19th night!.

5Km at the Bangalore Midnight Marathon on 10th Jan

The 2nd edition of the Bangalore Midnight Marathon finally happened on 10th/11th January. It was one of those rare Bangalore events in which I did not run long distance(HM/FM) as I had decided to do 5Km IT City runwith my 14 year old son Rahul. Rahul, to his credit, has run 5.3Km in the 1st edition of the Bangalore Midnight marathon in May 2007 and 5.7Km in the Sunfeast 10K in May 2008. We reached the holding area - the grounds of Ujjwal school in Whitefield, around 8:15PM thinking we were just in the nick of timefor the 8:30PM start. I was pleasantly surprised to see a reasonably good turnout - probably a couple of thousand people. However, the delay in starting the race was quite distessing. The compere made some brave attempts at keeping the crowd engaged while stalling for time in order for the VIPs to arrive. And then there were a couple of speeches which were not received very kindly by the runners.

Eventually around 9:20PM or so the crowds started to move towards the starting point close to the Hope Farm junction. There was fair amount of confusion regarding the start point and we had couple of false starts - running 250 m and then again 50 m before realising the race had not started. Finally, at about 9:31PM we took off. Rahul and I ran the whole race side by side chatting along the way. There were adequate water stops with volunteers. The route was out and back 2.5Km. When we were around the 1.5Km mark we started seeing runners coming back. I recognised several RFL runners and other firends during the run. It was good fun and Rahul and I finished in about 35 minutes 31 seconds which is absolutely great timing for a 14 year old! Rahul was told by some volunteers that he finished 6th among boys and his bib number was taken down. However, nothing really came of that. Leona came first among women in the 5Km run.

It was good to know on Monday that the RFL runners had a good time doing the HM, FM and the Relay with several of them finishing among the first three. Arvind and Nikhil seem to have done a wonderful job of pacing and helping several runners cross the finish line. Kudos to both of you and RFL!And it was even better to learn from Jugy that my absence was noticed by many runners!

Wishing All Great Running Success in 2009!

I ended the year with a nice 10K/59 minutes run on 30th December with old buddy Vijay Ramakrishnan visiting from Pune. The hour went by quickly as we caught up on work, running scene, the economy, Bangalore vs Pune etc. 2008 has been a great year running wise with 6 marathons(including a ultra) and a total of 1850Kms of running. I have been fortunate enough to have been mostly injury-free this year. Except for a short break in October when I had a strained lower back and had to stay off running for a few days, I have been able to run consistently 3 times a week through the year. And put in hard, long hours on work!. Looking forward to 2009 it looks like I can run 12 months in the calendar year if I wanted to. To complete my goal of 12 in 12 I plan on running one marathon a month till July 2009(including Mumbai in January and Pondicherry in February). With Hyderabad, KTM09 and Ultra09 scheduled for August, September and November the only 'open' months in 2009 are September and December!

2009 has also started fairly well. Did my January 1 run at EGL - a 14Km run with Udaya Kumar. We had both done the same route on January 1, 2008 as well. Only this time we started from the Airport road end, ran past Logica and then along the old aiport boundary wall merging into the RFL route. Since January 2003 I have been starting the year with a 10Km+ on the 1st. Due to this I go to sleep by 1030PM or so on 31st. My New Year celebration usually happens on January 1st evening with a glass(or two) of some Indian wine.

I ended the 1st week of the year with a 31K/3hrs 11 minutes run(yet again at EGL!) with Deepak on 4rth January. It was a pretty decent run considering it became quite warm towards the end of the run and also a blister in my left foot(due to the new shoe) bothered me a bit.

There is always a spurt in the number of joggers/walkers in the first few weeks of January - I notice this every year. No wonder as 'Fitness or excercising regularly' is one of the most popular New Year resolutions! Wishing everyone a Healthy, Peaceful and Safe 2009!

Vacation time Running..

Am off work for 10 days in the last fortnight of the year in order to deplete my vacation balance to within allowable limit. I have met runners who do little running during their vacations and come back from their holiday saying 'I need to catch up with my training as I hardly ran the last ten days'. While its a challenge to get up early and run during vacations, I usually ensure that I run at least once in 3 days. This is important not only to keep the training momentum but also to offset the increase in calorie intake that is inevitable during a vacation. In any case one key factor that motivated to take up running as a habit is so that I can eat and drink without too much care. Also, I enjoy running in new places and being an addict am unable to stay off it even while on vacation.

The first part of this vacation was spent at the ancestral home in my birthplace Tiruchi(Tiruchirapalli or Trichinapoly). I am not a very religous guy(though a believer)- but Tiruchi, with numerous well known temples around it, brings out the religous instinct in me. During the four days there, we visited several magnificent temples: Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, Samayapuram Mariamman Temple , Thiruvanaikaval Shiva temple, Rockfort Ganesha temple, Vayalur Murugan temple and the Brihadishwara temple in Tanjavur. Despite some of these temples being very crowded I enjoyed their architecural and cultural ambience. We also visited Saraswati Mahal Library in Tanjavur - one among the few medieval libraries existing in the world. This library has palm leaf based manuscripts written by my forefathers.

At the same time I also managed two decent runs of 10.5Km and 9Km respectively starting around 630am. The roads in the Tennur area, Sivaprakasa road and Sastry road, were broad and traffic light. The weather was moderate - by Tiruchi standards it was winter with a morning low of around 20 Celsius. Surprisingly I saw very few walkers or joggers on the streets and there were hardly any stray dogs around. Did see lots of goats wandering around in the roads. I capped the week with a nice 24Km/2hrs 26 minutes run as part of the RFL run in EGL on 28th December clocking a total of 44Km for the week. Despite this, I have put on a couple of Kilos since the last marathon few weeks ago - I guess the calorie intake (specially in the form of fried stuff and desserts) has been greater than the expenditure.

Am looking forward to the last run of the year on 30th morning and then starting the New Year with a nice long (25Km+ ) run before gettting back to work.

Breaking in a new pair of Addidas Supernova Cushion

A week after last Sunday’s marathon I completed a nice comfortable 12K run today at my usual CV Raman Nagar route. That by itself is normal – I have usually been doing a 10 to 12K run a week after finishing a Full Marathon. However, today’s run is also the longest I have done with my new pair of shoes – my seventh pair of Addidas Supernova Cushion in six years(hope someone from Addidas is reading this!) . Yes I have pretty much been a ‘one shoe brand’ runner since I took to distance running in 2002. When I searched for my first pair of running shoes in early 2002 I neither knew much about running shoes nor did I know any other marathon runner in Bangalore to seek guidance from. I think at that time Addidas was probably the only brand that was selling a range of sports shoes in Bangalore. I stumbled upon the supernova cushion, it worked for me during my first runs beyond 20 Km and 30Km and of course my first full marathon. I have never considered looking at any other running shoe except once. In 2007 , influenced by comments from other runners and literature about ASICS being the ‘best’ shoe brand for distance runners I bought a pair of ASICS Gel Kayano 13 during one of trips to the US on work. Unfortunately, the shoe did not work for me. The heel started hurting during long runs. I run one Full Marathon with this pair of shoes and then disposed it off and went back to my Supernova Cushion. From this experience I learnt that no brand/make of shoe will fit all runners and it does not make sense to change the shoe brand if the existing one works for you. Its good to consult either the resources on the Internet or better still get advice from experts at the Manipal Hospital’s Department of sports and exercise medicine or Back 2 Fitness. As far as I am concerned Supernova cushion is a lifer. This article sums up my views about this shoe.

Unlike many runners I know who use multiple pairs of shoes on a rotational basis I am a ‘one shoe at a time’ runner. That is, I use one pair of shoes and only after it is worn out I move to a new pair. It is generally recommended that distance runners replace their shoes after every 500Km to 600Km of running.( Running in old or worn-out shoes is one of the most common causes of running injuries). Though my shoe did not look worn out, I have done over 700Kms in it since July 2008 including 4 marathons and an ultramarathon. Therefore, it was time to change the shoes. Trying to do a marathon every month poses a challenge in terms of breaking in a new pair of shoes. It is recommended that one runs about 100Km in a new pair of shoes before using it on a long run or a race. Since the gap between my 5th marathon on 14th December and the 6th one in Mumbai on 18th January is 5 weeks this is a good period to switch to a new pair of shoes. If all goes well I will run the next few marathons starting with Mumbai in this new pair of shoes. However, I don't think I will ditch my previous pair as yet - will probably do a few more long runs and probably the Auroville marthon in it.

Running for a Thousand Dreams!

I have been involved with Dream A Dream for over 2 years now and have seen first hand how much of a difference this organization makes in the lives of vulnerable children. Thanks to Dream A Dream nearly 1,000 orphans, street children and children in slum communities are participating in programs such as team sports, creative arts, learnIT and civic awareness – helping them to develop crucial life skills such as confidence, problem-solving, communication and leadership, skills that will empower them to achieve their dreams!

Running for a charity is common in most international marathons. In a big marathon like Flora London marathon if one is not running for a cause then one is in a minority- nearly everyone is running for someone else and their joy is in knowing that their efforts will be rewarded in measures beyond medals or personal records.

Once again this year, I have a personal goal of running marathons and raising substantial funds for Dream A Dream. My next marathon will be the Standard Chartered Mumbai marathon on 18th January 2009 - I will be running this event for the sixth year in a row with several thousands of runners many of whom will be raising money for some cause . If you would you like to make a tax-deductible pledge and help support Dream A Dream please make out a check in favour of 'Dream A Dream' or donate online so that I can do as much as possible to support this noble cause. You can dontate in INR or any other currency.

Remember, every single rupee counts and together we can make a huge impact!

Great Full Marathon run at Bellandur Today

With the new date for the Bangalore Midnight marathon rumoured to be 10th January 2008, Deepak and I decided to do our December Full marathon as part of the RFL run at Bellandur on 14th December 2008. After duly informing the RFL run organisers Arvind and Nikhil, we decided to start our run an hour earlier ie at 530AM. Even though early mornings are quite nippy the day gets quite warm if and when the sun comes out. Also, starting an hour early also meant that we would finish our marathon with the 30K+ runners by 10:15 or so(with a 4:45 finish). I parked my car at the Mformation office and hopped into Deepak's car at AMand we reached the run site by 5:20AM. Arvind, Nikhil and the other RFL volunteers had just got there to mark the route.

It was cold, dark and foggy when Deepak and I set off on the dot at 5:30. Fortunately I had the foresight to carry a pocket torch with me which came in handy as we ran through the forest area. As a result of the rains the bushes were overgrown in many areas. On top of that the grass and the bushes were quite wet with dew. We made our way through the trail area a bit slowly covering the 2Kms in a little over 15 minutes. While doing so, we spoke about how difficult it must have been for Doc Rajat, Shumit and Santosh to run in the night at the ultra. We reached the RFL water point at 3.8Km before the point was set up and continued on. Not being able to locate the turn around point we made a U turn at 5.3Km. With daylight breaking through we picked up pace a bit on the return leg. I wanted to get back to the starting point in time to start the 2nd loop with the RFL runners. It was nice to get a cheering from the 40+ runners gathered at the starting point. We had done the 1st loop of 10.6Km in about 68 minutes.

Took off for the second loop around 6:42AM. I happened to be in the front and led the runners astray due to an incorrect white arrow mark put by A2 inadvertantly (while marking in the dark). We ran through a different section of the forest and got lost a bit and eventually came out on the road at a different point. Deepak went ahead with faster runners like Hari Bharadwaj and Ravi Balasubramnya while I ran with Rahul for a large portion of this loop. It was great chatting with Rahul. And before I knew it the second loop was done. I had covered about 21.6K in 2 hours 15 minutes. I had Navdeep Singh for company in the 3rd and 4rth loop. Navdeep is a fast Half Marathon runner and long distance cycling enthusiast. Running with him helped me keep a decent pace though of course it was slower than his normal pace. I greatly enjoyed running with Navdeep who is moving out of Bangalore -so it is unlikely I would be running with him again anytime soon. Usually, I find the last 4-5 Km of a marathon (post 37Km) quite tough. Surprisingly, today I felt great towards the end and was able to pick up pace a bit and complete 42.2Km in 4 hours 29 Minutes. I felt so good that I could have continued on for another 3-4Kms.

This was probably my best run in the current series after the first one in Hyderabad in August. I even had sufficient energy in the evening to drive across town to Jayanagar to attend a colleague's wedding reception. My only regret in today's run is that I forgot to take photos after the finish. Deepak and I were FILO (First In Last Out) today. The Bangalore weather was, once again, ideal for running - partly cloudy with a light breeze. The run route at Bellandur is quite nice with a mix of trail and road except that the 100 metres or so towards the end of the trail part is terrible - the garbage and the stench seems to have increased - this spoils the fun and beauty of this route. Overall I am very satisfied with my run today and am now looking forward to my first sub 4:30 finish in Mumbai in January 2009!

Bangalore Midnight Marathon announced ..and postponed..

In the last week, within a space of 5 days, the Bangalore midnight marathon was announced and postponed. The Bangalore Midnight marathon to be held on 14th December was finally announced on 1st December. However, due to the incomprehensible and dastardly Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 26th, as a precautionary measure and based on government advice the event has been postponed, probably indefinitely. I have mixed feelings about this. Of course, what happened in Mumbai was terrible! However, one of the goals of this act is to disrupt normal life - postponement of public events such as the midnight marathon is clearly a step that helps achieve that goal. Also this means, I now do not have an event for my December marathon - unless the midnight marathon is confirmed to happen on 23rd December by end of next week. Otherwise, I will just go ahead and do a full marathon during the RFL run on 14th December. I need to do a full marathon in December definitely by the 23rd December so that I have 4 weeks before the January run in Mumbai.